Ben Gaines

Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 15:48 UTC

On this July 4, please pause to remember that one of the colonists’ complaints in the Declaration was that the Crown was paying its judges.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 17:27 UTC

(And getting press hits like this one is probably part of the fundraising strategy for their money burning plan.)

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 17:03 UTC

It’s still a lot of work! But sure, Heritage probably has money to burn.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 16:12 UTC

Also, speaking as an attorney, I would be appalled if a client ever got quoted, even on background/not for attribution, saying the point of a ballot challenge “wasn’t necessarily to win.”

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 15:39 UTC

It’s a lot more work to bring a challenge like this than to defend against one, especially when all you have is frivolous arguments, up against unambiguous statutes and well-settled case law.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 15:22 UTC

I’d do it 2 days post-GOP convention, steal their thunder, and then have a coordinated month-long roll-out, culminating in the convention. Take the lead, never look back.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 15:03 UTC

Yascha Mounk is a deeply unserious person.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 04, 2024 at 13:28 UTC

No, I don’t think I will.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 20:54 UTC

He’s gotta stop the bleeding before things can get better.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 19:20 UTC

I mean, yes. But also… I’m not sure that it’s wrong. I don’t know if it’s “a few days,” but he’s got to figure out some way to shut them up.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 16:12 UTC

Unless it was a core function meeting, it would only be presumptively excluded. The evidentiary bar only covers “official conduct for which the President is immune” or “immune conduct,” not all official conduct. Of course, we have no way of knowing when or if that presumption is surmountable.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 01:07 UTC

Yeah, I’m pretty agnostic about whether Biden should drop out (less agnostic the longer this drags on), but I do feel fairly certain that I would personally reap tremendous enjoyment watching Harris tear into Trump.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 20:29 UTC

Well, he’s still running as a Dem this year.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 20:23 UTC

Governor. He’s telling people that he’s running in ‘26 *as an independent.*

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 13:10 UTC

Do you mean Plessy?

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 18:01 UTC

YOLO!

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 12:52 UTC

Shaw’s is also unionized.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 02:39 UTC

Yes. In Maine, we would probably need to start over at square one, though the Secretary of State’s findings from December could be introduced as evidence in a new challenge. Trump is actually still litigating here to have those findings vacated.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 02:31 UTC

But there are plenty of state laws that forbid ineligible candidates for state office from appearing on the ballot, and there the holding still has weight. It was reversed on other grounds. He is probably ineligible to run for governor of CO (though he might get a new shot at litigating the facts).

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 23:39 UTC

Trump would win 400 EVs anyway, so why bother.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 23:38 UTC

I would seriously consider voting third party.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 23:21 UTC

A. Vermeule, Judging Under Uncertainty 207 (2006) (yikes).

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 23:11 UTC

Oh god.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 20:18 UTC

Descended from the hate crimes of past generations, at least.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 14:43 UTC

Nice.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 13:45 UTC

I was on the ground in Manchester for Howard Dean. I remember the scream and the aftermath. 1s went to 5s. Precinct captains went to 5s. This shit is nothing.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 13:26 UTC

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 19:37 UTC

I’m not totally confident the party that just had the collective public freakout we witnessed over the last 48 hours has its ducks all in a row.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 19:34 UTC

That’s for sure the right message to communicate. I don’t think it’s a done deal that everybody gets that memo or agrees with it right away, certainly not in the same ease that it’s communicated with an incumbent president.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 19:30 UTC

Even if it doesn’t go to the convention, there could be a couple weeks of jostling that spills out into public view.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 19:25 UTC

I think that’s overconfidence. I agree that would be the best and most likely path should Biden drop out, but I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat. And several Democratic politicians have very, very large egos.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 19:15 UTC

There’s also option C, where the party doesn’t quickly coalesce around her, everything turns into a huge shit show, and the eventual nominee (which still probably winds up being her) is severely wounded and loses badly.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 16:19 UTC

Not Maine. Ours starts 30 days out. Minnesota?

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 15:51 UTC

We use RCV for the presidential ballot in ME.

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Ben Gaines @gaines-law.com [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 15:45 UTC

There’s a Maine feed. I use it to find and follow people, though it suffers in the summer for obvious reasons.